Next two games will push McGrady

APTracy McGrady scored 26 points in his debut with the Knicks on Saturday.After playing 32 minutes in his debut with the Knicks on Saturday, an overtime loss to the Bobcats, Tracy McGrady was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he woke up on Sunday morning and felt no pain or stiffness in his surgically repaired left knee.

That was test No. 1, and tonight he'll take Part A of a two-part exam. The Knicks play back-to-back tonight and Tuesday, at home against the Bucks and in Boston against the Celtics and former teammate Nate Robinson. They'll then have two days off before going back-to-back again against Washington and the Grizzlies on Friday and Saturday and McGrady's performance in those games is something that the team's medical staff and coach Mike D'Antoni will be careful to monitor.

"The doctors don't have any restrictions on him," D'Antoni told the New York Daily News. "It'll be just he and I and, 'How do you feel' and, 'What do you think?' We'd like to get it to the point where he is playing normal minutes. But we'll wait and see how he feels."

As for McGrady himself, he thinks that it'll take about five games of playing 25-30 minutes a night before he truly gets back into game shape. The 32 minutes he played on Saturday was the most since a 38-minute outing for the Rockets last Feb. 7.

"I haven't played in so long and I just don't want to jump into averaging 30-something minutes right now; I just don't think it's a smart thing to do," the seven-time All-Star told the paper.

McGrady went on to say that he was really stiff following Saturday's loss -- he had to pull himself from the game in overtime because of the pain -- so the team will obviously be taking a cautious approach with the 30-year-old forward who, after playing his first game in 59 days, appears to be the team's best offensive player.